The field of this invention relates to fill-up and circulating tools which are mounted to a drilling rig hoisting system and more particularly to one of its bails to allow the fill-up and circulating tool to be moved aside rather than dismantled when operations such as drilling or tripping pipe are taking place.
During the process of drilling and completing a well it is necessary to run or pull the pipe into or out of the wellbore, in a processes commonly called xe2x80x9ctrippingxe2x80x9d, where it is necessary to connect and disconnect the uppermost adjacent pieces of tubular many times. These adjacent pieces can consist of one or more individual pieces or joints of the complete tubular string. Because of problems associated with the drilling of a well it is often necessary to capture fluid from the upper end of the tubular or circulate fluid through the tubular while tripping. To capture or circulate fluid it is necessary to connect a device commonly known as a fill up and circulating tool to the upper end of the uppermost tubular. When using a top drive rig it is common to connect the top drive directly to the upper tubular by threading the top drive into the tubular. Recently it has become common to use the device illustrated in PCT/US99/22051 when attached to the top drive.
In some cases and when using a conventional xe2x80x9crotary rigxe2x80x9d devices such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,997,042; 5,191,939; 5,735,348 and others are used. These devices have substantial limitations in that they cannot be used with all tubulars commonly used in the drilling and completion of a well and they cannot easily be placed in an xe2x80x9cout of the wayxe2x80x9d position and must be removed when it is necessary to drill.
In a related earlier U.S. application Ser. No. 09/638,809, which is fully incorporated herein as though actually set forth, several fill up and circulating devices are illustrated which require a handling device to assist in positioning them in sealing and coupling contact with the tubular connection and to allow sealing and coupling to the upper end of the uppermost tubular. In this application several methods for handling these devices were disclosed. One such technique for accommodating the need to get the equipment out of the way to facilitate drilling was to put the fill-up and circulating tool on swing mounts from both opposed bails and to somehow swing the fill-up and circulating tool out from between the bails to get it out of the way from the tubing in the elevator. This design involved a need for considerable clearance space to make a large arc for the swing motion and a fairly unwieldy method of hoisting and lowering the fill-up and circulating tool throughout its arcuate range of motion. Additionally, the fill-up and circulating tool had to be held in the out of the way position by cable and presented a risk of falling back down toward the tubular if the support cable failed for any reason.
Current fill-up and circulating devices illustrated in the 042"", 939""and 348""patents are connected to the tubular connection of the top drive or attached to the hook of a conventional hoisting system of a rotary rig. In order to drill these devices must be removed so that the tubular can be connected to the top drive or the tubular is connected to a kelly which is connected to the hook of a rotary rig.
Therefore, in addition to handling the fill up and circulating devices to position them at the tubular for coupling and sealing to the tubular, it is also desirable to have the handling device move the fill up and circulating device to an xe2x80x9cout of the wayxe2x80x9d position when not sealed or coupled to the tubular. xe2x80x9cOut of the wayxe2x80x9d meaning that the position of the handling device and any device attached to it or not in the way or inhibit the processes of rig operation and specifically the handling or tripping of the tubulars or the drilling process.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for handling the devices for filling and circulating a tubular, to place the apparatus for filling and circulating the tubular in sealing and coupled contact with the tubular and to move the apparatus for filling and circulating the tubular and the handling device xe2x80x9cout of the wayxe2x80x9d.
Another object of the invention is to provide a means for connecting the fill up and circulating device to a pump or other fluid supply or storage system.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a method of installation and operation that does not require the device to be removed from the hoisting device to conduct any rig operation. Another objective is to have a handling system that is simple to operate, and which does not require significant space for its movements, and which will reliably position the fill-up and circulating tool over the tubular for rapid makeup or release.
A mounting system for a fill-up and circulating tool on the rig hoisting system is disclosed. In the preferred embodiment, the tool is supported on one of the bails and it is driven to rotate around the longitudinal axis of one of the bails. A combined vertical and rotational movement is imparted by the mounting system to allow the fill-up and circulating tool to be raised and swung out from between the bails to allow normal drilling or tripping. In the other position it can be swung over the tubular and lowered for sealing contact to allow fluids to pass in both directions to or from a pumping and storage system on the rig.